Gathering of Monsters
by slyferine
Summary: ? Well, it takes one to know one." - Uchiha Shisui's thoughts on the collection of broken man Uzumaki Nagisa has gathered for her court. One-shots of Water's Edge


**Disclaimer :** Naruto series and its characters do not belong to me.

 **Gathering of Monsters**

Uchiha Shisui has been looking after Nagisa for a long time.

He had seen her building her way up from virtually nothing but sheer determination and intelligence; watched her fell time and time again only to get back up, stronger than she previously was, both in mind and body –the one trait she shared with her brother-; seen her lost her calm and broke down to pieces and even personally picked up those pieces; knew in his heart that he was one of the few selfish enough to chain and bind her wings from her freedom; and knew in all certainty, despite all that she'd never hated or despised him.

Above all that, Shisui was the first to notice how she pulled _them_ into her sphere of influence.

It was ironic, how she with her cynical view of the world has managed to gather those who were wronged by the so-called mankind as if gathering knights for her court and converted their own conditionings, beliefs, and loyalties over time to herself.

Uzumaki Nagisa was not a kind person.

That particular character trait of her parents had been condensed, combined and then stuffed into her sunshine of her twin elder brother. It was as if they were yin and yang, two sides of one coin, light and darkness to name a few. Instead, Nagisa had inherited her parents' combined ruthlessness. _Not cruelty_. Shisui reminded himself.

Nagisa-hime was never cruel. She was more straight-forward and blunt in that regards, refusing to mince her words and only stating cold-hard truths over empty words. Her honesty and bluntness, combined with her worldview have more often than not distanced her from her own peers. However, Shisui knew that many veterans in their field appreciated it, if not outright respecting the young blonde. For despite her young appearance and being a virgin in terms of war, she'd shown remarkable understanding of it alongside human natures.

She was almost like Itachi in that regard.

The only difference being Itachi forming his own thoughts over his own observations and feelings, while Nagisa took into account of what others were feeling. She has enough intelligence and several to analyze, mull over and connect everything together to form her own view, with unknowing input from the people around her, who were too self-absorbed in their own thoughts to ever notice a tiny slip of a girl blending in the shadow, always watching, always listening.

It was why she was so unshakable in her convictions after all.

No matter how many times people tried to explain themselves, to justify themselves for their actions, Nagisa had always seen through their own hearts, sometimes even clearer than they themselves did. She will never label people as villains nor heroes, but merely looked at them as they were, without their well-crafted facades that could even fool themselves, without judgment and just accepted it as one truth before moving on.

Of course, not many people particularly felt grateful or happy that their soul were practically stripped bare and dismissed just as easily by a deceptively young girl, even with her thousand-year stare. But that was all human nature, Shisui supposed. Fear of the unknown.

They were ostracized, feared and misunderstood for their whole life, for over half of their life and a ridiculously young girl just gave them a look and dismissed them as if they were regular people. Not like they had any chance hurting her with many of her knights around. And Shisui himself has been amongst that number.

The first, had been Uchiha Itachi, Shisui's baby cousin and brother of his soul.

He'd witnessed the early development of Itachi's and Nagisa's relationship, how the tiny little girl who had barely reached a decade of her life became the focus of Itachi's whole world, bit by bit. He had watched, how she'd given the young socially-awkward traumatized young man a home in the little corner of her heart. She had slowly, befriended and coaxed the prodigy's thoughts out and shared with him her own, both baring their souls to one another.

Even after what Itachi did, she'd never harbored any ill-feelings towards him. She'd never judged and despite knowing the situations as much as she did, there was never once a single word demanding Uchiha Itachi to _fix_ the situation. She had never expected anything out of the young heir.

" _You are you. There's nothing I want from you other than continue being youself."_ She'd once said to all of them.

Perhaps, that was how Itachi had fallen into her circle. To the young heir born at such difficult times, expectations upon expectations were piled onto his young shoulders, especially after he'd shown himself to be a very capable prodigy. With no one to understand or relate to him, it wasn't a wonder why he latched into the first one who saw him for all who he was and provided him such stability. It was the same reason that drew Uchiha Shisui in after all, along with the fact that Shisui himself has no one else to share the burdens of his knowledge other than the girl who had played guessing game with the two Uchiha prodigies every other week for the duration of their three men get-away. The shunshin prodigy noted whether if Itachi felt just as frustrated and sometimes grateful as he was with their inability to lie or even kept sensitive information away from the too frighteningly intelligent girl.

For a while, their circle of little haven remained three, until Hatake Kakashi, another ridiculously damaged and traumatized man came along. His cousin only labelled the man half-in though, and while Shisui was inclined to agree, as long as Kakashi-senpai prioritized Nagisa-hime's safety, he'd let him in on their strange bond. Hatake Kakashi's case was simple. They both have connection from Yondaime-sama alone. In fact, he theorized, were Namikaze Minato to survive that night, both Naruto and Nagisa will probably grow up with Kakashi as their brother.

She was, along with Naruto his only family left. And to the copy-nin who had watched his father died right in front of him, then his teammates one by one followed by the man he'd started to consider a father along with the man's wife, he'd probably trade his life for the twins, traipse into hell and back just to ensure their safety. To Shisui, that was enough. They need a fairly reasonable one who didn't only consider the cynical mind of a young girl to act. He feared for the world should that fine balancing line snapped.

Shisui was not as worried then, until the next one came along. This one was more unpredictable, more dangerous compared to them all, not in the sense of strength as he was sure all of them could hold their own.

 _Karatachi Yagura._

Yondaime Mizukage, living human host for the three-tailed beast, a man so infamous that his reign has been named _bloody mist_ era. A man Shisui had once considered a monster in their world, even when he knew better than to judge with Nagisa-hime constantly reminding him.

Instead of running far, far away like any normal sane human being, Nagisa had watched and learned as she always did, and decided that saving the man from death is the best course of action. And as it turned out, not only did she save the young kage from a certain death, but she was also Yagura's own salvation in all sense of the word. His very own light in his otherwise dark lonely trapped world. The very first human contact he had after years of isolation in his own mind, who sheltered and nursed him back to health without expecting anything, who defended him when his past came knocking.

Shisui understood perfectly, and would probably felt just as indebted and protective of that one sole person.

Yagura went beyond.

Through him, Nagisa practically had an entire village worth of military power backing her. While feared, Yagura still has connections and people who respected him. The man was in every sense of the word, her personal enabler. He'd do everything in his considerable power and influence to grant every single one of her whims, whether she voiced them or not. It was frightening, the degree to which the deceptively young shinobi will go through just to ensure her happiness.

Despite all that, no one ever did say anything regarding the girl having the deceptively child-like man wrapped around her fingers. No one was that suicidal.

Therefore Shisui was a bit frightened should something ever happened and Nagisa-hime decided to just one day snapped and turned against the collective humanity.

With Uchiha Itachi, to an extent Hatake Kakashi, and Karatachi Yagura- Jinchuuriki extraordinary and possibly Uzumaki Naruto, along with several others…

 _No…Just no…_

Itachi will probably dismiss his fear through logics alone. Knowing as he was with pure certainty that Nagisa-hime won't ever turned into a cruel tyrant with power backing her. But how would they know if she were to manipulate them? She was certainly intelligent enough, commanded enough of their affection for them to look away and to not assume the worse until it was too late.

Shisui would never lie to himself. But he will probably not assume anything as well. And in the deep recess of his mind, he knew…Deep down that if the world hurt her enough, he'd be the very first to snap and burn everything that cause her pain. And it frightened him.

Uzumaki Nagisa has successfully gathered monsters to surround her, a defense far more absolute than even the host of Shukaku possessed.

And with that thought, Uchiha Shisui smiled ruefully, his long fingers running through long silky strands of gold as the owner slept peacefully, snuggled into his side for warmth in the particularly cold night while her teammates for her own mission continued to trade loaded glances, unsure of what to make of this scene.

Monsters, eh?

Across from him, the gimlet stare of faintly glowing magenta eyes from its returning owner caught his own onyx ones, prompting the diminutive owner to shake his head once, signaling that they were set for the night.

 _It takes one to know the others…_

In the end, Uchiha Shisui was no different than the monsters themselves. And no doubt, she'll continue to attract those damn predators to her like honey to bees.


End file.
